Life-guard for railway-cars.



No. 746,692. PATENTBD DEC. 15, 1903'.

G. GEIGBR.

LIFE GUARD FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 5. 1903.

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No. 746,692. I PATENTEDDEC. 15, 1903.

G- GEIGER.

LIFE GUARD FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLIUA'IION FILED OCT. 5. 1903. I0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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IPatented December 15, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

GOTTLIEB GEI-GE-R, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

LIFE-G DARD FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 746,692, dated December 15, 1903.

v Application filed October 5, 1903. Serial No. 175,717. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GOTTLIEB GEIGER, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Cleveland, in the county of Guyahoga and State of Ohio,have invented oertaiu new and useful Improvements in Life- Guards for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to life-guards for railway-cars; and it consists in the new and improved constructions and combinations of the elements comprising such mechanisms, substantially as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

The invention has for its object to provide a double or tandem lifeguards-that is, one guard to follow the first, so that in case the first does not pick up the object on the track the second will, the operations 'of the two guards being automatic.

A further object is to provide a means attached to the forward guard whereby a person or article caught upon the forward guard will not be jarred or jolted off, but will be retained thereon.

A further object is to provide a cushioning device locatedabove the forward guard and extending across the front of the car and designed to avoid the shock to a person picked up by the forward guard and striking against the front of the car.

The invention also consists in other features of improvement.

To accomplish these objects, I construct the forward guard with a locking device whereby the guard shall be held up from the road-bed, but may be easily and quicklyunlatched by the motorman for dropping it to the roadbed in case a person'or object is on the track.

I also provide a second or tandem guard, also.

looked to be held up from the roadway, but may be readily unlocked to fall by the upward movement of the forward guard in case the forward guard .should not catch the person or object, but should be lifted and pass over the personor object, thereby being in position to catch when the forward guard fails.

The n'atureand performanceof these improvements will fully appear when, considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Sheet 1, Figure 1, is a top or plan view of my new improvements in life-guards for railways. Sheet'fZ, Fig. 2, is a front end elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is also a front end elevation of the same with the forward guard and the cushioning device removed. Sheet 3, Fig. 4, is a side elevation of the life-guard mechanism. Fig. 5 is an inside view of one of the hangers for-supporting the guard mechfloor of may require.

D D are angle-levers suspended at their angles to frontends of the said plates B B by means of the cross-rod d.

To the lower ends of the levers D D is attached the forward life-guard G, consisting of a framework of rodsconstructed in about the usual manner. The inner endof said guard is supported on two cross-rods g g, extending across between the levers D D. To the forward guard. is. provided a self-acting fender to prevent a body having been caught from being jarred or jolted off again. consists of a wire frame or bow E, having its forward member lying across and over the forward cross-bar ofthe guard G, it being held in its place by being passed through ward and upward, as shown in the dottedlines in Fig. 4. Y 1

- *To'retain the fenderv Ein its rearwardposis tion, I provide a latching device consisting of a wire frame or bow H, having its ends secured to the forward cross-bar of the guard G and its rear corners caught in notches h h in the lower ends of the levers F F.

I is a cross-rod attached to the side members of the latch-frame H and extending across and over the guard G, as seen in Figs. 1 and 4. By means of this latch-frame whenever a body is caught on the guard the body will push down upon the cross-rod I, and thereby release the levers F F. This will instantly cause the fender E to be thrown forward and upward in front, and thereby supply a means of preventing the body from being again dislodged from the guard.

I also provide a locking device for holding the forward guard Gr upward away from the road-bed, consisting as follows: To the inside faces of the plates 0 C are placed latch-bars J, (seen in Fig. 5,) held to slide in bearings K. The forward ends of said latch-bars engage with notches on the inner ends of the levers D D for holding the guard G upward in the position seen in Fig. 4:. For withdrawing said latches when desired a crossrod L is journaled in the plates 0 C, having a crankarm M engaging in between two pins m m on said latch-bar J. N is also a crank-arm on said cross-rod L, to the moving end of which is attached a vertical rod 0, extending upward through the floor of the car and in such position that the motorman can readily press upon it with his foot whenever occasion requires for dropping the guard G.

A rear or second guard P is pivotally suspended from the rear ends of the plates 0 O and is held in the upward position by means of latch-levers P, fulcrumed onto the sides of the bearings K. The rear end of said latch-levers P engage with notches 10 in the upper ends of. the side bars of the rear guard P and hold the guard up from the road-bed. The forward ends of said latch-levers P are curved downward and may be depressed by means of pins Q on the leversD D. Springs S hold the rear ends of the latch-levers down in their engagement with the notches p of guard P, and springs S, attached to crankarms M, serve to hold the latches J forward in place and also hold the pushsrod 0 up. This method of releasing the rear guard P is intended as an emergency safeguard, as in case that the forward guard should be lifted by a body instead of picking it up the levers D D will depress the latch-levers P, and thereby release the rear guard P, when said guard will immediately drop into place for catching the body missed by the forward guard. The lifting of the front end of guard P will again latch itself. The forward guard may be turned entirely upright without deranging the latch or locking mechanisms.

The cushioning device consists as follows: E R are two upright brackets attached to the front end of the car-floor, having sockets r r for supporting a curved spring-cushion T, consisting of bent leaf steel springs, the ends of which are firmly secured to a cross-rod 25,

that'will rest in the sockets 7' 'r. The other and lower ends of the springs are also firmly attached to a cross-rod U, which slidably lies on the top edges of the plates 0 C. To said lower cross-rods U are pivotally attached two rods V V, upon which are placed spiral springs z z, and said rods V V are passed through eyes w m on the lower ends-of the two brackets R R beneath the floor of the car. These springs z 2, together with the leaf-springs T, supply a perfect cushion for avoiding a shock to the person or body striking against the front of the car. The spiral springs on the rods V V bear against the eyes 00 0c and serve to hold the cushion out in its normal position, as shown in Fig. 4:, but yielding readily to the pressure of a body striking against it.

From the foregoing it will be seen that a body picked up by the forward guard will be retained thereon by the automatic operation of the fender, and should the body be not picked up the guard would be lifted by running up onto the body. This would immediately cause the rear guard to drop and pick up the body, and should the body be caught up with force it would strike against the cushion, then the force would be broken and fall easily onto the guard, and the fender would retain it thereon.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In life-guards for railway-cars, the combination with the forward guard of the bodyretaining device consisting of a fender-frame extending across the front of the guard, its side members attached to spring-actuated levers on the rear cross-bar of the guard, a similar latch-frame attached to the forward cross-bar ,of the guard and having its rear member engaging with notches in said springactuated levers, and adapted for freeing the fender-frame by the falling of a body onto the latch-frame being caught on the said forward guard, substantially as described.

2. In a life-guard for railway-cars the combination with the car of suspending-brackets, plates attached to said brackets and having vertical adjustment, guard-carrying anglebars pivotally supported at forward ends of said plates, latch-bars on said plates and engaging with the inner ends of said anglebars, a cross-rod journaled between said plates, crank-arms on said cross-rod engaging with the latch-bars, and a crank-arm on said cross-rod and a vertical rod connected to said crank-arm, and.extending upward through the floor of the car, adapted for withdrawing said latch-bars, by the pressure of the motormans foot, for dropping the forward guard, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In life-guards for railway-cars, the combination with the car, of a cushioning device, consisting of brackets attached to the front end of the car-platform, a cross-rod supported by said'braokets, curved leaf-springs having eyes, and adapted to operate substantially in TO their upper ends attached to and held by the manner and for the purpose set forth. said cross-rod, a cross-rod loosely lying 011 Signed by me at Cleveland, Ohio, this 2d the top edges of the plates 0 C and having I day of October, 1903.

the lower ends of the leaf-springs attached thereto, rods pivotally attached to said lower GOTTLIEB cross-rod and extending back and slidalbly supported in eyes under the car-platform,

Witnesses:

GEO. W. TIBBITTS,

springs on said rods bearing against the said CHAS. E. PEGLER. 

